1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling features in a model vehicle or, more particularly, to a system and method for controlling bell movement and/or bell sound in a model train or other model vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
User controls for initiating bell sounds in model trains are well known in the art. For example, a user may interact with a user control to produce a bell signal. The bell signal may then be provided to a sound subsystem, where it is used to produce a bell sound. One drawback of such a system, however, is that the bell sound is not synchronized with bell movement. In other words, there is no coordination between producing a bell sound (e.g., “ding”), and swinging a model bell from the model train. Further, to the extent the model bell is moved, it is not moved (or swung) in a realistic fashion. For example, on an actual locomotive, a rope is usually attached to a bell. An engineer pulls the rope to move the bell to an initial starting position. Once the rope is released, the bell will swing from side-to-side, making a bell sound each time the bell strikes a striker.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a model vehicle system and method that overcomes at least some of the foregoing drawbacks. For example, such a system may include a bell controller adapted to move a bell, so as to simulate bell movement on an actual locomotive (e.g., by moving a bell to an initial starting position, by allowing the bell to swing from side-to-side in a realistic and decaying fashion, etc.). Such a bell controller may also (or alternately) be adapted to synchronize bell movement to bell sound, so as to simulate bell movement and sound in an actual locomotive.